Why is Jesus so often portrayed as young and beautiful in his suffering and death, in spite of our lack of information about his age or appearance? What systems of belief are encoded in artistic renderings of the crucifixion? What hierarchies of value persist in our ongoing representations? What is at stake in the depiction of the death Christians call redemptive? This course will look at these questions from a variety of perspectives—art historical, anthropological, theological and philosophical—and in dialogue with a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, music and film. Participants will be asked to become thoughtful critics of the explicit and implied messages inherent in the iconography of Jesus’ death.
